Description
The forty-three lovingly crafted vignettes within The Difficulty of Being a Dog dig elegantly to the center of a long, mysterious, and often intense relationship: that between human beings and dogs. In doing so, Roger Grenier introduces us to dogs real and literary, famous and reviled - from Ulysses's Argos to Freud's Lun to the hundreds of dogs exiled from Constantinople in 1910 and deposited on a desert island - and gives us a sense of what makes our relationships with them so meaningful.
About the Author
Roger Grenier, an editor at Editions Gallimard, has published over thirty novels, short stories, and literary essays and is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Grand Prix de Litterature de l'Academie Francaise. Alice Kaplan is the author of French Lessons and The Collaborator, both published by the University of Chicago Press. She also translated Grenier's novel Another November.
Reviews
"This slim volume is beautifully written, and the prose flows like poetry. The market has been flooded with a plethora of popularly written books attempting to explain canines and why people love them, yet this book... raises the subject to a higher plane. A gem." - Library Journal, starred review "[L]iterate, light and lighthearted....[A] kind of anthology of literary musings about dogs based on Mr. Grenier's extensive readings in everything from Faulkner to the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki." - Richard Bernstein, New York Times "[A] very superior commonplace book of canine characteristics, the mixture of Grenier's own anecdotes with quotations from other intellectuals making it far from the average gift-shop item - as if Roland Barthes had opted for domestic animals rather than for fashion or photography." - John Stokes, Times Literary Supplement "With whimsical humor and mordant wit, [Grenier] applies a broad and deep knowledge of literary dog lovers from Homer to Flaubert and Faulkner, elaborating not only on their insights into doglove and hate but also on what these writers' revelations tell us about ourselves....[A]n appealing gift item, this slim volume will make lovers both of literature and canines sit up and take notice." - Publishers Weekly
Book Information
ISBN 9780226308289
Author Roger Grenier
Format Paperback
Page Count 139
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 170g
Dimensions(mm) 20mm * 14mm * 1mm
About the Author
Roger Grenier, an editor at Editions Gallimard, has published over thirty novels, short stories, and literary essays and is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Grand Prix de Litterature de l'Academie Francaise. Alice Kaplan is the author of French Lessons and The Collaborator, both published by the University of Chicago Press. She also translated Grenier's novel Another November.
Reviews
"This slim volume is beautifully written, and the prose flows like poetry. The market has been flooded with a plethora of popularly written books attempting to explain canines and why people love them, yet this book... raises the subject to a higher plane. A gem." - Library Journal, starred review "[L]iterate, light and lighthearted....[A] kind of anthology of literary musings about dogs based on Mr. Grenier's extensive readings in everything from Faulkner to the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki." - Richard Bernstein, New York Times "[A] very superior commonplace book of canine characteristics, the mixture of Grenier's own anecdotes with quotations from other intellectuals making it far from the average gift-shop item - as if Roland Barthes had opted for domestic animals rather than for fashion or photography." - John Stokes, Times Literary Supplement "With whimsical humor and mordant wit, [Grenier] applies a broad and deep knowledge of literary dog lovers from Homer to Flaubert and Faulkner, elaborating not only on their insights into doglove and hate but also on what these writers' revelations tell us about ourselves....[A]n appealing gift item, this slim volume will make lovers both of literature and canines sit up and take notice." - Publishers Weekly
Book Information
ISBN 9780226308289
Author Roger Grenier
Format Paperback
Page Count 139
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 170g
Dimensions(mm) 20mm * 14mm * 1mm
